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Device Keeps Liver Alive Outside Body For 24 Hours
kkleiner writes "A new device will keep a liver alive outside of the human body for up to 24 hours. Developed at Oxford, the OrganOx circulates oxygenated red bloods cells and nutrients through the liver while maintaining the proper temperature. Doctors estimate that this new technique could double the number of livers available, saving the lives of thousands who die every year awaiting transplant."
If the subject is a liver then in what sense is it remarkable that they're kept alive?
At the Toronto General Hospital they have a full lung living outside the body. They talked about it in this short TED segment. Ex Vivo Lung: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2EmuyHoMAI
Head in a jar, here we come!
No onions?
Not hearts or kidneys, livers. Because you know, all those people who drink/drug their liver into oblivion really needed the second chance :P I'm sure they won't drink their way through the transplanted one, either.
I need a device to keep my liver alive inside my body.
So will this help me get more drunk? Less hungover? Will I dance better? I mean, what else do you really use your liver for?
Don't drink and drug your liver to death in the first place.
The liver is one of the more resiliant organs (the only one that can regenerate). It's probably the easiest organ to start with.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
This is quite specific to liver transplants in the United States. Here most patients who die while awaiting a liver transplant have had an offer of a donor liver. 55% of patients who die have had the offer of a high-quality donor liver.
Increasing supply will always be a good thing, but there are huge issues to be addressed in making sure those on the US wait list for a liver transplant actually get a transplant from the available organ supply. It seems patients and doctors are turning down way too many good organs.
"Our data show that the current liver allocation system has provided one or more transplant opportunities to nearly all candidates before death/delisting. Therefore, simply increasing the availability of de-ceased donor livers or the number of offers may not substantially reduce wait-list mortality." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22841780
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclS1pGHp8o I mean, that's how I get all MY livers...
Just take liver out, go out drinking and put it back in when finished. What could wrong with that?
On y va, qui mal y pense!
This is good - my liver sure doesn't stand much of a chance as long as it's still inside me.
> could double the number of livers available, saving the lives of thousands who die every year awaiting transplant
It is the other way. Every year thousands of people are killed to make organs available for transplant. Methods vary. Kosovo albanians ritually culled 300 serb people in the basement of the "Yellow House" to harvest organs. Sooner or later the serbs are going to avenge that on kosovans, down to the 7th off-spring!
When your blood is drawn for medical tests, your genome is sequenced and if there is a match for a politician or rich/influential person, you are placed on the list of slaughter-people, who are tracked 7x24x366. If the big boss suffers an accident, illness or assasination attempt, needing a replacement organ, the secret agencies will quickly arrange to have you accidented brain-dead and you will be cut up for parts.
The most heinous case happened in Hungary. A 4 year old child was placed in temporary state customdy as his parents lost the rent of a home due to loss of job. A bookshelf allegedly toppled over the boy while in state custody and he allegedly became brain-dead. Yet, the parents were not allowed to visit the child in the hospital, not even see him throught the window, on various bureaucratic grounds. The boy allegedly died spontaneously, after being pulled from respirator, pulled much sooner than usual and his little body was cut up for organ transplant. Hungarian populace suspects there was much foul play there and the organs went to people who hate Jesus Christ.
The dumb Vatican meanwhile continues to teach donating organs is similar to the self-sacrifice of the well-known ancient christian symbol of the pelican bird. No, it isn't, it is just Satan at work, as usual.
I had a liver transplant almoust 5 years ago.
This is a big for the liver transplant world because right now a liver can only survive for 12 to 16 hours outside the body. Given the amount of time to call a patient in and prep them for surgery as well as harvest and transport an organ. Furthermore a lot of work has to be done crossmatching the organ on several levels (not just blood type). All of this results in surgeries that are often under huge time pressures. Having more time to do all of the above will result in much better outcomes and survival rates
just breathtaking
I see what you did there.
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It's inspiring, is what it is.
The lead researcher on the project was a Dr H. Lecter, who is also researching methods of Fava Bean propagation, and assisting Italian wine growers in enhancing the quality of Chianti.
When asked for a comment, Dr Lecter said: I do wish we could chat longer, but... I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
I don't know how to keep a liver alive outside a body for 24 hours, but I know how to destroy a liver inside a body in under 24 hours.
Check out TransMedics.com - their device keeps hearts and lungs alive outside of the body.
What requirement for liver survival is not being met? I recall quite some time ago when it was considered to be some sort of breakthrough when they realized "you know that pump we use when we do heart surgery? The body needs pulsing circulation to survive, so let's do that instead of just streaming fluid." I have to wonder if they are trying something similar here.
Why not plumb this liver up to someones blood supply system, and use it to clean the blood etc of unhealthy people. if its temporary, then immuno response shouldn't be that big a deal. if they can get it to live even longer, so much the better. if they can use cows liver instead, even better still. Those things are huge, and could be even better that teh real thing...... just plug your self in over night after a session, and wake up all cleansed...
There seems to be an adequate supply of Chinese felons waiting to donate their organs.
... didn't like, no, didn't like it one bit...
I have had a liver/kidney transplant. The MELD scoring process determines who get the next liver available. Blood type is considered, transplants match blood type, even though this is not strictly technically necessary, because otherwise, type O (universal donor, anyone can use type O) patients would be on longer lists then other blood types - it's a fairness problem. MELD score considers various blood test score indicators for how sick you are. The sicker you are, the higher score you get, and thus higher on the "list". Other factors will be considered, to adjust for "sick" that doesn't show up in the blood tests. Early stage liver cancer will usually move someone up on the transplant list.
Caveats:
1) you have to be well enough to survive the operation, and well enough to have good prospects for reasonable survival beyond the surgery. You'll inactive until you recover sufficiently.
2) you have to have NOT demonstrated mental instability (not attributable to liver disease) that would cause you to be unable to maintain the post-transplant drug regimen - this will get you off the list until such issues are resolved. Attitude, doctor shopping, and any behavior that makes the transplant team unhappy can qualify. Follow your doctors instructions! Note that liver disease does commonly cause mental issues in it's end-stages, so the assumption is that your ok, till you demonstrate otherwise.
3) Cancer: you can have a limited amount of cancer of the liver (since they will replace the liver anyhow). There are specific criteria about how many lesions and how big they can be. Too little gives you a smaller MELD score (and you have to wait till they get bigger). Too much, and your off the list. Other cancers will generally put you off the list entirely, as the immuno-suppressant regimen will cause the cancers to take off like wildfire, resulting in a shorter overall lifespan. In support groups for transplant-list patients, announcing you have been diagnosed with liver cancer can lead to minor celebrations, which is a bit weird, but makes sense given how the system works.
4) Infections must be eliminated, again, because the immuno-suppressant regimen will cause them to take off. Off the list till eliminated.
5) Recreational drugs and alcohol. None. Top 2 causes of liver failure are cirrhosis and hepatitis - primarily brought on from drinking and intravenous drugs. They do blood tests for metabolites monthly, or more often, to ensure that you're behaving. No point in a new organ if you haven't eliminated the habit that destroyed the old organ. Plus, people generally look at that as unfair (see Mickey Mantle, one of the drivers for the MELD reform).